Posted on 01/20/2013 5:45:36 PM PST by Salvation
As Americans mark the 40th anniversary of the 1973 US Supreme Court decision striking down the nations anti-abortion laws, Americans remain deeply divided on the issue. There is one small group, however, that has a unique perspective from which to shed light on it: former workers in the abortion industry who, for moral reasons, left their jobsoften returning to or finding religious faithand embraced the pro-life cause. Having worked behind the doors of abortion clinics, they know first-hand what abortion is, and the destructive force it has been in many lives.
We wouldnt really tell them about alternative options
Annette Lopez worked as a program assistant for Planned Parenthood in the Los Angeles area for five years. Her job was to visit high schools and teach teens about responsible choices relating to sex.
She first learned about Planned Parenthood while in college. A nominal Catholic, her views were rather vague on the abortion issue, and she was assured it was a small part of Planned Parenthoods business.
Lopez initially liked her job. I wanted to help youth, she explained. I had a niece who got pregnant at a very young age, and I wanted to help them avoid making her mistake.
As Lopez was seldom at clinics she rarely saw pro-life demonstrators, and what little she knew about them was negative. Her perspective on pro-lifers came from such media depictions as the 1996 HBO movie If These Walls Could Talk, in which pro-life demonstrators are angry and violent. (Cher portrays the caring and kind abortionist, Dr. Beth Thompson, in the movie, who is harassed relentlessly by pro-lifers. At the close of the movie, she has just performed an abortion on a relieved Anne Heche, and is gunned down by a pro-lifer who bursts into the procedure room.)
In her final year at Planned Parenthood Lopez began dating her future husband, a pro-life Catholic who gently queried her about her work. Hed ask, Dont they do abortions there? Is that right? Youre a loving person and you love your family, why are you there, where they hurt babies? she recalled. He got me thinking.
In her final six months of employment, she began working in a supporting role at a clinic. Her new manager suggested she train to become a medical assistant, as budget cuts could eliminate her education position. He also suggested she watch an abortion. Lopez recalled, He said, Thats what we do. Every staff member should know what it is. I knew I didnt want to work there anymore.
Lopez also was involved in counseling women with unplanned pregnancies. Shed tell them that they had three options: keep their babies, put them up for adoption, or have abortions. If the patient expressed any interest in abortion, she was instructed to schedule one. She said, We wouldnt really tell them about alternative options. We were trying to push them towards having abortions.
Lopez attended a pro-life conference, and one of the speakers was Abby Johnson, who told the story of how she left employment at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas. As she sat listening, Lopez prayed for guidance. She said, I knew I had to go talk with her. I spoke with her after the talk, and she gave me the strength I needed.
The next day she quit.
She began volunteering for Los Angeles Pregnancy Services (LAPS), a pro-life clinic in a poor Hispanic neighborhood which offers women alternatives to abortion. The pro-life facility is surrounded by abortion clinics that advertise their services in the neighborhood. It was an amazing experience, Lopez said of her time at LAPS. Im so happy I got involved. I discovered that pro-life people are compassionate and loving, and not the way Planned Parenthood portrays them.
Lopez married, and has a child with another on the way. Wanting to better understand fertility cycles, she and her husband took Natural Family Planning (NFP) classes. Realizing that NFP could benefit LAPS clients, she and her husband are now training to become NFP instructors.
Astrid Bennett Gutierrez, director of LAPS, was grateful for Lopezs time at LAPS: She is awesome. She saved many babies.
Now I see its just a business
Sue Thayer worked for a Planned Parenthood clinic in Storm Lake, Iowa for 17 years. She began in 1991 as a family planning assistant, and soon became a manager. She joined Planned Parenthood because she was interested in womens health care, the pay was good, and it was close to her home.
Thayer was opposed to abortion, but since it was not performed at her particular clinic, she agreed to work there. However, she had to train at a Des Moines clinic watching a full day of abortions being performed. She said, It made me want all the more to prevent unplanned pregnancies [through the distribution of contraceptives].
She continued, Planned Parenthood told us that an unborn baby is just a blob of tissue, and that its a womans right to have an abortion. I guess I bought into some of that. Its a line they continue to spew out even to this day.
Thats not the view Thayer holds now. She said, At nine weeks, the baby is fully formed. He has tiny fingernails and facial features. Hes a human being.
Thayers career with Planned Parenthood came to an end in 2008. The organization directed her clinic to begin what she calls telemed or webcam abortions. The abortionist is in one location, and the woman seeking an abortion in another. The abortionist views an ultrasound image of the unborn child to determine if he is 63 days along or less. If so, the abortionist can push a button remotely and a drawer will open with medication. The woman takes the medication, and it kills her unborn child. Another set of medications is taken at home to cause contractions and deliver the childs corpse.
The webcam abortions are a financial boon to Planned Parenthood, Thayer said. They cost the same as a surgical abortion, and the abortionist does not have to travel to the site to see the woman. (A big plus in her clinics case, Thayer said, as their abortionist hated to travel.) Women who come to the clinics are told, Thayer said, that they can take care of their problem today in 45 minutes using the webcam abortions.
In practice, Thayer continued, webcam abortions are traumatic for women. She heard stories of women who would collapse at home in their bathrooms, deliver their dead children, and immediately feel remorse at what theyd done. She said some brought their dead babies back to the clinics in Ziploc bags and said to the clinic managers, I didnt know this was a baby.
Thayer vocally objected to bringing webcam abortions to her clinic. I told them it was a stupid idea., she said. They fired me. They said they were downsizing. I was relieved.
Thayer is a self-described born-again Christian who believes God wants her to share the message of the evil of webcam abortions. She wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Times sharing the story of webcam abortions.
Thayer also stresses that money is a big motivator in the abortion business. She said, Its all about money. Each Planned Parenthood center has a goal of how many abortions they do each week. When I started, I thought Planned Parenthood helped women. Now I see its just a business.
Thayer has participated in the 40 Days for Life prayer vigils in front of the clinic at which she once worked. She has spoken out against webcam abortions before legislative hearings, and believes she played a role in getting the Wisconsin state legislature to ban the procedure.
I killed 1,200 kids
While many former workers in the abortion industry leave due to religious conversions, for others it takes a personal tragedy. Such was the case with Anthony Levatino, MD, a former abortionist.
Dr. Levatino grew up in Rochester, New York, attended medical school in the 1970s, and became an OB/GYN. As part of his practice, he performed first and second trimester abortions.
He and his wife experienced infertility problems, and began the onerous process of adopting a newborn infant. They went to many adoption agencies, and were put on a five-year waiting list. He and his wife were able to privately adopt a girl, Heather, in 1978. It was the first time he had moral qualms about abortion. He said, It was odd, I was doing abortions during the day, but in the evenings I was looking for children to adopt.
Two months after adopting Heather, Levatinos wife conceived. So the couple had two children.
Levatino and his doctor partner were looking for a better method for second trimester abortions. They learned the dilation and evacuation, or D&E, method, in which the abortionist literally dismembers the child a piece at a time, pulling the pieces out of the womans body.
Tragedy struck the Levatino family 1984. Levatinos adopted daughter, Heather, was struck by a car and killed. He recalled, It was beyond traumatic.
After taking some time off of work, Levatino found himself back in the office, performing a D&E abortion. When he used a clamp to pull out the first limb of the child, he got sick and didnt want to continue. He finished the procedure, but found it very difficult. He recalled, I found myself looking down at a pile of body parts that Id been paid to dismember.
Levatino stopped doing second trimester abortions, and then in 1985, stopped doing all abortions. He got involved with the pro-life movement, speaking at crisis pregnancy centers and pro-life dinners and even serving as medical director of Priests for Life. Three times he testified before the US Congress to oppose abortion-related measures.
His previous career as an abortionist grieves him. Ive had a complete and utter change of heart, Levatino said. Im horrified by it. I killed 1,200 kids.
One person who was especially pleased with the doctors change of heart was his wife, who was pro-life. Levatino said, She always objected to me doing abortions. It was a source of tension for us, so we avoided talking about it.
Levatino does believe there are fewer physicians willing to perform abortions today. Abortion was legalized when he was going through his training, so there was some degree of enthusiasm for abortion in my generation. Many of these physicians have had a change of heart (weve had a belly full of killing), and no longer accept the pro-abortion argument Its just a blob of cells. With modern technology, including ultrasound images, it is unmistakable that abortion kills a baby, he said.
Fewer young physicians are willing to perform abortions, he noted. That has led groups like Planned Parenthood to step up their recruiting among medical students through groups such as Medical Students for Choice. MSFC laments the dangerous shortage of trained abortion providers as well as the graying of current providers. Medical students are paid stipends to assist at abortion clinics, which gets them comfortable being inside an abortion clinic, Levatino said.
Today, Levatino works as a gynecologist in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He is a regular at pro-life gatherings, and recently served as master of ceremonies at the Pro-Life Action Leagues 2012 Meet the Abortion Providers Conference. He spoke at the first conference in 1987, and was pleased to return for the conferences 25th anniversary. He also speaks to high school groups, and is pleased to see more students self-identifying as pro-life. I start by asking the kids, How many of you consider yourselves pro-life? When I started giving these talks 25 years ago, maybe one hand would go up. Today, many more do. The numbers of pro-life teens is definitely increasing.
They felt trapped
In an effort to help people working in the abortion industry who want to leave their jobs due to moral concerns, Abby Johnson founded And Then There Were None.
After Johnson began publicly sharing the testimony of her pro-life conversion, which is the basis for her book Unplanned (excerpts of which can be read at her website), many working in the abortion industry approached her asking for help. She said, They felt trapped, and didnt have anyone to turn to. I felt like God was giving me a violent shove to start this ministry.
And Then There Were None formally kicked off in June, although Johnson had been informally helping clinic workers find new professions long before that (Annette Lopez, for example, is one of the 40 clinic workers the ministry has assisted).
Johnson said the primary concerns of the clinic workers are financial; many want to leave, but are afraid of not being able to pay the bills. Many are single mothers with children; one single mother she assisted, in fact, has seven children. And Then There Were None financially assists those who leave employment at the clinics for up to three months; stipends can be as much as $2,000 or $3,000 per month.
Its an expensive ministry, Johnson conceded. But one that works.
Johnson believes there is a shortage of people willing to work at abortion clinics, because even though a large number of Americans identify themselves as pro-choice, there is still a stigma associated with being involved with performing abortions. She noted, At the time, I loved what I did at Planned Parenthood, but I was not free with sharing that I worked there. I told people I worked in a doctors office.
Johnson and her husband have converted to Catholicism. After it became known that she had quit her job at Planned Parenthood because of her pro-life convictions, she was asked to leave her Episcopalian church, she said, because it was pro-choice. She has since read and embraced the Catholic Churchs teaching on human life, as expressed in such documents as Pope Paul VIs Humanae Vitae and Pope John Paul IIs Evangelium Vitae. Johnson sees the work of And Then There Were None as a natural part of the pro-life movement. We pro-lifers and Christians reach out to help women in crisis pregnancieswe must do the same for people who want to want to transition out of the evil abortion industry, she said.
God bless these people who had the courage to stop killing innocent babies by supporting abortion in one way or another.
Ping!
I have a friend who used to be pro-choice. Then she got a job as a receptionist at an abortion clinic. She says teenagers would come in, not even old enough to drive themselves but they’d be getting their 6th, 7th, 8th abortion. She saw women who wanted their baby, but were being pressured by their boyfriends to “get rid of it” and they caved. She saw guys who wanted their baby, but the chance was stolen from them because their girlfriend “didn’t want to get fat”. She saw people destroyed by what they’d done. The things she saw just in the waiting room made her sick. She is now staunchly pro-life.
Tough read, but there is hope that more are seeing the light.
One was one too many, and we are a nation that has allowed 50+ million we have a heavy chain around us to amends and we have yet to start the penitence phase.
Fantastic testimony. Tell her that God blesses her in this decision.
I believe that number has swelled to 55 million in 40 years.
So sad.
I once had a pupil write an “essay” “justifing” her having procured an abortion. The topic however, was “The Supreme Court decisions and Abortion”. It was not supposed to be a “reality” confession. Tens of millions of Americans would fight you over abortion, but I was unaware of so many multiple abortions by the same individuals.
I couldn't help thinking that some pro-lifer must have set them up in a sort of memorial for the missing students who had been aborted and could not be a part of that graduating class.
I did some stealth questioning and found out that I was right.
A sly observation and deduction. Those students understand. BTTT!
I was particularly nauseated that Abby Johnson was asked to leave her Episcopal church because she was pro-life. No dissent from liberal dogma is permitted. No tolerance for you! The only tolerance is for their only rigid doctrines.
But on the bright side, this pushed her into the Tiber, and she has sloshed her way across it. That’s great, a blessing.
Better late than never.
bookmarked
In February 2004, US Senate candidate Barack Obama's wife, Michelle, sent a fund-raising letter with the "alarming news" that "right-wing politicians" had passed a law stopping doctors from performing p/b abortions (stabbing half-born babies in the neck with scissors, suctioning out their brains and crushing their skulls).
Michelle Obama considers partial-birth abortion "a legitimate medical procedure," and asked supporters for $150 to attend a luncheon for her candidate husband, b/c he would fight against "cynical ploys" to stop p/b sbortions.
(NOTE: nurses at an Illinois hospital in 1999 discovered babies were being aborted alive and placed on shelves in soiled utility rooms to die unattended.)
BACKGROUND Legislation was presented on the federal level and in various states called the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. It stated all live-born babies were guaranteed the same constitutional right to equal protection, whether or not they were wanted.
BAIPA sailed through the U.S. Senate by unanimous vote. Even Sens. Clinton, Kennedy and Kerry agreed a mother's right to "choose" stopped at her baby's delivery. The bill also passed overwhelmingly in the US House.
NARAL went neutral on it. Abortion enthusiasts publicly agreed that fighting BAIPA would appear extreme. President Bush signed BAIPA into law in 2002.
But in Illinois, the state version of BAIPA repeatedly failed, thanks in large part to then-state Sen. Barack Obama. It only passed in 2005, after Obama left. Obama articulately asserted that legislation protecting live aborted babies might infringe on women's rights or abortionists' rights.
In 2003, as chairman of the next state Senate committee to which BAIPA was sent, Obama stopped it from even getting a hearing, shelving it to die much like babies were still being shelved to die in Illinois hospitals and abortion chambers.
(NOTE As chair of that same committee, state Sen Obama once abruptly ended a hearing early, right before the parents of six children killed as a result of Illinois' drivers licenses-for-bribes scandal, were to testify in favor of Choose Life license plate legislation. Obama stalled. He later killed the bill when no one was around.)
“Fewer young physicians are willing to perform abortions, he noted.”
Of course. Abortionists have always been the lowest scum and vermin of the medical profession, despised generally by real doctors. They are the creatures you see scurrying about when you pick up a large rock on the ground.
No one who isn’t possessed or sociopathological goes into medicine to become a baby murderer.
Thanks.
I hadn’t heard of webcam abortions.
I guess the medical profession is allowed to lower its standards when it involves abortion and profits to a democrat donor.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.